New inquest into anti-apartheid icon Steve Biko's death

South Africa will open a new inquest into the 1977 death in police custody of iconic anti-apartheid figure Steve Biko.

The inquest will be officially registered in court on Friday, the anniversary of Biko's death nearly a half-century ago.

South African authorities have recently opened new inquests for other anti-apartheid leaders and activists who died in police custody or in suspicious circumstances during the brutal system of racial segregation, although they've been criticised for waiting so long to do so.

They include the 1967 death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Luthuli, the 1981 killing of lawyer Griffiths Mxenge and the 1985 killings of a group of activists known as the Cradock Four.

Biko was at the forefront of the Black Consciousness Movement that emerged in South Africa